Pack animals are often called beasts.
The concept of beast has several uses. The first meaning mentioned in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refers to a four-legged animal .
If we focus on this definition, we could affirm that a dog , a cow or a cat are beasts. However, it is more common for the notion to be used to refer to pack animals , such as a horse or an ox . For example: “Poor beast, it is already exhausted from pulling that carriage” , “I need three or four beasts to move the materials to the shed” , “Attach the plow to the beast to start working” .
Beast as a synonym for animal
In the countryside, the use of animals is very common for jobs that require more strength, endurance, power or speed than humans are capable or willing to invest. This type of exploitation is regrettable and contradictory to our supposed intellectual superiority: what kind of superior being treats others unfairly, takes advantage of them because they consider them inferior? Despite technological advances, which allow all agricultural tasks to be done with motorized machines, lack of resources and ignorance continue to lead to the subjugation of innocent creatures.
The word beast, as we said, is also used with respect to wild animals in general: “That beast wanted to eat me!” , “On the safari we saw all kinds of beasts” , “The beasts that live in the jungle are not bad: they only seek to defend their territory and feed themselves” .
A beast can be a monster.
Mythological creatures and people without education or manners
Beyond animals, mythological creatures, monsters and other fantasy beings are called beasts: “When I was a child I thought that evil beasts were hiding under my bed” , “The minotaur was a beast that lived in a labyrinth” , “The boy was scared when he heard the story of the beast in the basement.”
Furthermore, the individual who lacks education , who does not have good manners or who acts with violence and aggressiveness is usually known as a beast: “You are a beast: I don't understand how you can make so many spelling mistakes,” “Don't be a beast, tell the guests let them pass” , “Ramiro's beast pushed me and made me fall to the ground” .
Beast as praise
Another meaning of the word beast refers to a person who has one or more unusual abilities, and when they exhibit them they make them seem more than a human being, as if their capacity had no limits.
For example, when faced with a singer like Patti LaBelle , who in her best recitals has shown off a powerful and agile voice, it is common for many to say "this woman is a beast." If we think that wild beasts are neither inherently good nor bad, this use is more reasonable than the negative one, expressed in the previous paragraphs.
Protagonist of a famous story
This word also appears in one of the most famous traditional fairy tales in history, "Beauty and the Beast" , originally from France. It is a story with various versions and a very uncertain origin. Some believe that it appeared for the first time in the book titled " The Golden Ass " by the Roman writer Apuleius, who was born in the first half of the 2nd century; in that case, their original name would have been Cupid and Psyche .
Likewise, there is more than one publication that competes for first place in popularity and even age, although here the dates are usually decisive. While Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Velleneuve and Gianfrancesco Straparola arrived earlier in the publishing world with their recreations of "Beauty and the Beast" , Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont 's revision, published in 1756, achieved more fame than the previous ones and has been translated into many languages since then.